Pesce al Forno con Patate (Baked Halibut with Potatoes)

I love this dish. It’s fundamentally the way good fish is supposed to be cooked: in the oven, light on spices and with potatoes on the side. No creams, no heavy rubs, nothing that would spoil the flavor of good fresh seafood.

As result the list of ingredients is short, the recipe is very simple and the bill for the fish high

Ingredients (about 6 people):

2 pounds of fresh halibut

3-4 potatoes

extra virgin olive oil

salt, black pepper, a bit of thyme

1/3 cup of white wine

few black olives (use Kalamata or some other “salty” version)

The steps:

1. Chop the potatoes in smaller chunks (I do something along the line of a 1/3in by 1/3in – no need to be too precise). I wash them and add 5 tablespoon of olive oil, black pepper, salt (don’t be shy) and the white wine. Mix everything and stick the pan in the oven at 400. The potatoes take longer than the fish to cook and you want to give them an head start.

2. After about 10 mins I usually take the potatoes out, give it a good stir and add the fish (with salt, pepper and thyme). If I have lots of people for dinner and the fish is big I usually tend to already cut it in individual portions. It requires a smaller pan, but that’s not the main reason. It actually cooks faster. A rule that someone mentioned to me was 10mins for each each of fish (head to tail). When I cook individual slices (of about an inch each) I usually go for 20mins. This is a good time to also add the olives.